Conveyer



Mardi 5, 1940- DfA. MGARTHUR E-r AL 2,192,547

CONVEYER Filed Sept. l5, 1938 s sneets-shet 1 QNI March 5, 1940.

DA. McARTHUR Er AL CONVEYER Filed SERT.. 15. 1.938v

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 and Carl /fe//rebeC/r h March 5, 1940- D. A. McARTHuR ET AL.

" coNvEYEn Filed Sept. 15, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Mar. 5, i940 P if CONVEYEE Donald A. McArthur, John Eoldgate, Koelkebeck, Warren, Ohio, assigne@ y e' v Wean Engineering Compam, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio HnapWai-ren;

Application september 15, raso, sei-nim. stacca `a claims. Mci.' ivi-tas) This invention relatesin general to conveyeisl and, in particular, to conveyers in which the material supporting surface is constituted by an endless belt of woven mesh. A

lConveyers utilizing a belt of woven mesh as the material supporting surface have numerous g applications. One of these is the handling of steel sheets immediately after they have been galvanized by the hot clip process. Numerous i objections to the use of such conveyors have,` however, been encountered in actual practice.

Considerable diillculty is experienced in causing the mesh belt to track true on the guiding and driving pulleys usually employed and the mesh has a tendency to weave back and forth from side to side. centering devices such as guiding flanges or edge pulleystend to break open the edges of the mesh andafter the edges are worn,

the mesh is quickly destroyed and the belt breaks.

Mesh belts, furthermore, are subject to stretching z under the tension necessary to support the conveying surface and 'its load, plus the driving force. l e

We have invented a conveyer, the material i5 supporting surface of which is composed of a mesh belt, which is free from the aforementioned objectionable features of mesh conveyer belts as used heretofore. In accordance with the invention, we provide a material supporting mesh belt with tension supporting loops on one or both sides thereof. We have devised special means for securing the tension supporting loops and the mesh .belt together whereby the mesh belt is relieved or substantially all tension and constitutes merely a material supporting surface.

The following detailed description of the inlvention refers to the accompanying drawings illustrating the application thereof to the vhan o sheets from a hot coating bath. but this is by way of illustration only since the invention has numerous other applications as well. in

J4drawings: 1 v

Figs. l and 2 when disposed sideby side with Fig. i on the left constitute a.` plan view oi a system for conveying steel sheetsA from a galvaniaing bath, including a'spangle forming con veyer shown in Fig. 1 and a cooling conveyer shown in Fig. 2; f

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. l with a portion thereof in section along a central longitudinal vertical plane;

Fig. i is a sectional view taken along the line lll-IV of? Fig. 3; 55 Fig. 55h a plan view to emerged scale showing a portion of4 our' conveyer apart from the suy and guiding pulleys; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view along the line VI-VI of Fig. 5 showing also a driving pulley associated therewith. e Referring now in detail to the drawings and, for the moment to Figs. l through e, a galvanizing pot 'it is provided with exit rolls il effective vto et vfrom the potsheets passed therethrough for coating; A spangle forming coni@ veyer i2 is trained over a magnetic pulley le adjacent the exit rolls il, suitable guide pulleys llt and l5 and a driving pulley i6. The magnetic vpulley has magnetizing means incorporated therein whereby to attract magnetic articles passi@ ing tl'iereover.` The magnetic, guiding, and drivlng pulleys are joled in suitable bearings supported in a frame l'l which may conveniently he assembled from structural members and plate sections. The magnetic pulley i3 and the left hand guide pulley le are mounted on arms is pivoted to the frame l'lyat it. The bearings in which the agnetic pulley is journaled are adjustable horizontally in guides 2i.

The magnetic pulley i8 causes the sheets ne emergingfrom the exit rolls Il to cling to the conveyer i2 whereby the sheets are caused to travel with the conveyer up the slope to the left hand guiding pulley It. The detailed construction of the conveyer i2 will be described further t@ hereinafter. Between pulleys, the conveyer is supported on tracks 2i.

Figs.' 2 and i illustrate the cooK inclu 1 l r conveyer a. frame E2 similar in construction to Guide pulleys i3 and 2t journaled in the frame support an endless conveyer similar to the cone veyer l2. 'ihcconveyer is actuated by a driving pulley it'join'naled in suitable bearings positioned in hogs 2l. A pressure roll 28 cooperates with eil the driving pulley 2S Iwhereby sheets moving along the conveyer are forcibly discharged therefrom.

Cooling air as supplied to opposite sides oi sheets passing along the conveyer 2li. A blower il; supplies air to an .air chest 3e. niiolds 3i' branching trom the air chest feed cross pipes 32. The pipes Si@ have holes spaced along the top thereoi whereioy :lets of air are blown against the bottom o? the sheets es indicated by the e@ arrows in Fig. e. Similarly, a duct t3 supported above the conveyer 25 and extending in part above the conveyer it is provided with nozzles #it and is connected to the air chest by a duct it. hij-this mns air jets are discharged onto es the upper surface of the sheets traversing the conveyers.

Referring now to Figs. 5 and 6 for a detailed showing of the construction of the conveyers I2 and 25,it will be noted that each of them comprises a mesh belt 36. Endless, flexible, tension sustaining loops 31 parallel the belt 36, preferably on both sides thereof. In the form of the invention illustrated, these loops comprise chains having links 38 separated by spacers 39 and connected by pins lli). At intervals along the lengths of the chains 31, plain links 38 are replaced by li ks 6| each having a laterally extending -iiauge Cross rods or stretcher bars 43 extend through the mesh belt as shown in Fig. 6 and are secured at their ends to the flanges 42 as shownin Fig. 5. Spacer sleeves t@ support the rods above the level of the flanges 42 so that the center line of each rod is approximately in alinement with the pitch line of the chains 31. Bolts 45 extend through the ends of the cross rods, the spacer sleeves and the flanges to secure them in assembled relation.

Fig. 6 also shows the relation between the conveyer of our invention and the idler or tai1" pulley therefor. The pulley 46 includes a cylindrical portion 41 engaged by the meshbelt 36. It also includes a toothed wheel or sprocket 48 and a guiding disc 49 around which the chains 31 are trained.- 'I'he vconveyer is driven by pulley 26 similar to that shown at 46 except that it has a sprocket instead of the disc 49.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that a conveyer in accordance with our invention retains all the advantages of mesh belt conveyers as used heretofore, viz., contact-with the material being conveyed at spaced points only, full exposure of the material being conveyed to the atmosphere and the like. At the same time, the conveyer of our invention' isfree from the objectionable stretching which has been experienced heretofore. Since the chains serve as tension supporting members, the only tension to which the mesh itself is subject'is that induced bythe weight of the mesh section and that portion' of the material being conveyed which lies between adjacent cross rods 43. The chains, furthermore, track accurately around the guide and driving pulleys and no lateral weaving of the conveyer is possible. It is unnecessaryftherefore,

to use guide ilanges on the pulleys or edge engag-A ing guide rollers which have a destructive eiect on the mesh.

Although we have illustrated and described herein but a single preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood that changes in the construction and operation described may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

In the claims, the term pulley is to be construed as including a toothed wheel or sprocket as well as a cylindrical belt engaging wheel. The term endless, furthermore, does not exclude belts or loops having a separable joint or joints.

We claim:

l. A conveyer adapted to receive metal sheets from a galvanizing pot, said conveyer including a, pair of spaced driving chains, a belt of flexible mesh between said chains, stretcher bars'extendingthrough said mesh and secured to said chains to stiien the belt transversely and maintain uniform contact thereof with the sheets, and a mag netic pulley adjacent an end of said pot, around which said conveyer is trained, said pulley being effective to attract sheet-metal emerging from the pot into substantially uniform contact with said mesh and cause cooling of the zinc coating on the sheets to be initiated simultaneously at a plurality of substantially uniformly distributed points on the surface thereof, thereby producing a sheet with a substantially uniformly spangled appearance.

2. A conveyerA adapted to receive metal sheets from a galvanizing pot, said conveyer including a pair of spaced driving chains, a belt of flexible mesh between said chains, stretcher bars extending through said mesh and secured to said chains to stiften the belt transversely and maintain unlform contact thereof with the sheets, and a magnetic pulley adjacent an end of said pot, around which said conveyer is trained, said pulley being eeotive to attract sheets emerging from the pot into substantially `uniform contact with said mesh and cause cooling of the zinccoating on the sheets to be initiated simultaneously at a plurality `ol' substantially uniformly distributed points on the surface thereof, thereby producing a sheet with a substantially uniformly Spangled appearance, said pulley being journaled on substantially horizontal arms pivoted at theirends vremote from the pulley, whereby the weight of the pulley 'tensions said chains and belt.

DONALD A'. MCARTHUR. JOHN' C. HOLDGATE. CARL KOELKEBECK. 

